This invention relates to men's neckties and more particularly to the everyday task of putting on a tie.
As is known, ties are worn by well dressed men everywhere as part of their business attire. Ties are also a large part of men's casual attire.
It is important for a man's tie to look presentable. Aside from the style, the most noticeable thing about a tie is its length. A tie that is too short or too long is considered sloppy dressing. In fact, the optimum arrangement is to have the tip of the outer flap (the visible portion of the tie) just touch the top of the belt buckle at the waistline.
Unfortunately, it can often be difficult to estimate the correct length of a tie in the morning (when a man may not be fully awake!) and guesswork is usually involved. The man only knows if he guessed correctly at the length of his tie after he has finished tying it. If it is incorrect then he must either accept a poor appearance for that day or he must start over, which wastes time and raises his frustration level.
The prior art shows many Pretied Neckties of the types shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,239 to Patterson and U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,115 to Knapp. Although these neckties may give the correct length of tie they are often undesirable because many men are reluctant to wear anything other than a traditional necktie.
Another concept, which is indicated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,636 to Marostica, actually requires the user to sever the necktie to employ the device. Not only is severing one's tie a frightening proposition, but it would be somewhat costly and time consuming to equip each one of a user's ties with such a device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,906 to Kurtz describes a tie locating device which comprises first and second elongated members which are slidably attached and relatively movable along a longitudinal path.
This device is rather unreliable in providing for the correct length of tie because when both hands are holding the tie ends onto the device (as is required by the device), it is quite difficult to know if the tie is evenly taut. If the tie is not evenly taut then the device will not function correctly and an unsatisfactory appearance will be the result.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy to use device which can quickly and accurately provide a man with the proper length of tie before he ties it.
It is another object to provide a device which will work adequately for most of a user's ties without requiring any modifications whatsoever to the ties.
It is still another object to provide such a device which can be manufactured and sold at an extremely affordable price.